The bed bug epidemic constitutes a growing worldwide problem which affects hotels, dormitories, and many other communal settings. Travel, which involves a hotel stay, currently presents a significant risk of a bed bug encounter (0.6-24.4% hotel rooms required treatment for bedbugs according to the survey involving 700 client hotels of the pest-control company Steritech—reference: USA Today “Bedbugs take a bite out of travel comfort” Sep. 15, 2006). Bed bugs occur in any type of hotel from the most economical to the very upscale. Nearly every major well-known hotel chain suffers from mild to severe bed bug encounters by patrons and several of these adverse experiences have resulted in multimillion dollar lawsuits with damaging publicity.
Despite the disgusting and traumatic episodes incurred by bed bug sightings and bed bug bites, the substantially worse outcome remains the common inadvertent transmission of bed bugs back to the traveler's home since the bed bug eggs and nymphs easily attach to luggage and clothing items. Reliance upon the hotel to ensure the absence of bed bugs or even adequate bed bug prevention constitutes mere unrealizable fantasy in the current era of cost cuts and production pressure. Bed bug transmission to the home quickly results in a maddening infestation problem quite resistant to resolution. Bed bugs are prolific and resilient insects which defy simple insecticide eradication methods—thus, requiring fairly toxic intensive pesticides with commercial professional application. Infestations rapidly spread to beds, carpets, furniture, baseboards, and even interior house walls. Fortunately, bed bugs are quite sensitive to heat extermination with well-known lethal temperature of 140 degrees Fahrenheit (60 degrees Celsius) for all life stages (eggs/nymphs/adults). Once a bed bug infestation has become established, the homeowner has little choice but to pursue the costly and inconvenient options of partial room heat treatment, whole room heat treatment, whole house heat treatment, intensive localized insecticide treatment, and/or whole house intensive insecticide treatment. All these options are fraught with huge expense (several or many thousands of dollars depending upon luck and infestation severity). Furthermore, the partial house treatment options never guarantee success since the tiniest survival quotient will cause a relapse of the infestation. Finally, none of these options prevent later infestation from a new source of travel.
A secure method of prevention regarding the problem of bed bug transmission to the home would require heat treatment of the traveler's luggage and clothing prior to entering the house. Furthermore, the usual situation involving a fatigued traveler demands that any disinfection procedure be nearly effortless in order to ensure compliance and success with the method. The present invention offers that convenient and nearly effortless solution to the bed bug risk by allowing quick heat sanitation on the porch or in the garage prior to home entry. Operation of the present invention requires only that the power unit hose be connected to the self-deploying heat treatment chamber and the device be activated. The heat treatment chamber then self-inflates, allowing luggage placement. A fabric flap door is secured and the heat treatment proceeds automatically. The operational simplicity and verifiable effectiveness of the present invention ensures success and peace of mind after any form of travel.